By Bakari Kiango
The chairman of the Tanzania Tourist Board (TTB), Judge
(retired) Thomas Mihayo, said starting tomorrow Tanzania will receive visitors
in groups.
He made the statement yesterday while speaking to reporters,
saying that their visit to the country had been prompted by the government's
stand on how to encounter Covid-19, whose vaccine had started being administered
to different groups of people in the country.
According to the Board chairman, the first batch of over 150
Israeli tourists would land tomorrow at the Kilimanjaro International Airport
(KIA) in Kilimanjaro Region and received by Natural Resources and Tourism
minister Damas Ndumbaro.
"The first batch will stay in the country until August
9 and as they prepare to leave, another batch of more than 200 tourists will
arrive and stay until August 16. On August 10 another group of over 150 will
land in Zanzibar," according to Judge Mihayo.
He went on to explain that on August 17 the last group of
more than 200 tourists will land at KIA, whereby he said a big percentage of
the tourists will visit Ngorongoro, Tarangire and Serengeti national parks as
well as Mt Kilimanjaro.
Judge Mihayo noted that, before the scheduled visit by the
600 tourists, on July 20, this year, at least 200 tourists from Israel arrived
in Zanzibar for a rest to view beaches and visit different areas of attraction.
"The scheduled visit by the tourists is the good sign
of our nation to continue to be trusted with its different efforts that it
makes so to ensure that all the areas of service provision to tourists observe
Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) against coronavirus infections," said
Mihayo.
Tourism was the leading foreign earner but its earnings
reduced from $2.6 billion in 2019 to $1 billion in 2010, according to the Bank
of Tanzania.
Judge Mihayo also said the visits were a unique opportunity,
explaining that the people of Israel had the habit of visiting the country's
tourist attractions in groups whenever they got that opportunity.
"These are great achievements of receiving such groups
of tourists in one period and the exciting thing is how the Israelis have
chosen to visit Tanzania in the midst of the coronavirus that troubles the
world," said Judge Mihayo.
He also said their visit at this time showed and reflected
on a positive image to the world and proof that Tanzania is a safe country to
visit even though at this time in which the world struggles to tackle
coronavirus.
He added that there had been a good response by the Israelis
to view Tanzania as one of attractive countries in Africa, where they continue
to visit Tanzania's national parks, the Indian Ocean and Unguja and Pemba
Islands.
"We are proud to see the number of tourists from
Israeli visiting our country continued to increase from 2,805 in 2010 to 36,640
in 2017," said Judge Mihayo.
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